Slub catcher



Aug. 19, 1969 S- L. ABBOTT SLUB CATCHBR Filed Nov. 15. 1967 United States Patent Int. Cl. D01h 11/00 U.S. Cl. 28-64 12 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A slub catcher having a passage through which yarn is drawn as it is wound onto a package, the passage being of the kind designed to trap long slubs and to permit short slubs to pass through.

Background of the invention Slub catchers have been used for a long time, a common type embodying a narrow passage or slot wide enough at its entrance end to admit the yarn and narrowing down toward its exit end sufficiently so that unacceptable enlargements (slubs) in the yarn are intercepted. Numerous slub catching devices have been designed to enable selectively eliminating slubs depending upon their size and length, the purpose being to remove the large long slubs but to permit the smaller and shorter ones to pass through. However, such devices as are available cannot be adjusted with sufficient precision to enable such discrimination. It is the principal purpose of this invention to provide a method and apparatus for catching slubs which will trap long and large slubs while permitting short and small slubs to pass through; to provide an apparatus for this purpose which does not require precise adjustment; and to provide an apparatus which is effective for yarns of substantially all kinds and under the high-speed Winding operations now used.

Summary As herein illustrated, the apparatus comprises rigid parts supported with portions of their surfaces in spaced confronting relation so as to define a passage or slot coinciding with the path of travel of the yarn being wound and diminishing in cross-section from a size large enough to receive the yarn at its entrance end to a size no smaller than the allowable reduction in diameter of the yarn within approximately an inch of travel of the yarn along the passage. Specifically a reduction of .003 of an inch per inch of length of passage, for example, from an entrance diameter of .010 to an exit diameter of .007 inch per inch of length. As thus dimensioned short and small slubs are progressively reduced in size by the converging surfaces so as to pass through the slot while the large slubs, because of their greater mass, cannot be reduced sufficiently within this length to pass. The apparatus functions to progressively reduce the diameter of the yarn at any given point at a rate such as to prevent surge and this is accomplished by displacing the yarn radially toward its longitudinal axis and any of its projecting fibers rearwardly relative to the direction of movement of the yarn at a rate less than the inertial resistance to such 3,451,520 Patented Aug. 19, 1969 radial and rearward displacement of the fibers making up the yarn. Preferably the yarn is reduced in diameter from its uncompressed size to no less than its allowable reduction in size in one inch of travel by reducing its size at the rate of .003 inch per inch of travel.

The invention will now be described in greater detail with reference to the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a left-hand view, partly in vertical section, of a portion of a winding machine showing in elevation the head portion of a travelling winding unit;

FIG. 2 is a front elevation of the head of the machine showing the slub catching device of this invention mounted thereon;

FIG. 3 is a horizontal section taken on the line 3-3 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a section taken on the line 44 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a section taken on the line 55 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 6 is an enlarged fragmentary section of a yarn passage in which surging takes place due to too rapid reduction in too short a distance; and

FIG. 7 is an enlarged fragmentary section of a yarn passage wherein smooth flow of the yarn through the passage is achieved by a gradual rate of reduction of an enlargement in the yarn.

The invention as herein illustrated is applied to a travelling spindle winding machine such as illustrated in Patent No. 2,623,265, comprising a large number of travelling winding units adapted to wind yarn during their travel in a closed path around the machine. As shown in FIG. 1, the machine has a head portion 10 supported for movement along a track 12 parallel to the axis of a drive roll 14 which has contact with the peripheral surface of the winding package P. The yarn Y being Wound on the package is drawn from a suitable source across an apron 16 and is traversed as it is wound onto the package by a reciprocating thread guide 18, the foregoing components being conventional in machines of this kind. It is customary to provide transversely spaced guide rods 2020 to center the yarn in its course and these are attached to the apron extending forwardly therefrom and flaring laterally outward to receive the yarn. The slub catcher 22, as herein illustrated, is mounted on the apron between the upper and lower extremities of the guide rods and comprises a pair of rigid elongate blocks 24, 26 mounted on the apron, the block 26 being disposed in an upright position and removably fixed to the apron by means of screws 28. The block 24 is mounted next to the block 26 in a similar upright position with its upper and lower ends supported between vertically spaced bearing blocks 30, 32 so that it can slide forwardly and rearwardly relative to the block 26. A spring-pressed plunger 34 mounted in the end of an arm 36 pivotally supported on the apron by engagement with the block 24 normally holds the latter in a rearwardly displaced position. The bearing blocks 30, 32 are fastened to the face of the apron at the upper and lower ends of the blocks 24, 26 and support the upper and lower ends of the rods 20.

The block 26 has a uniformly fiat surface 42 confronting the block 24 and the block 24 has a correspondingly uniformly fiat surface 44 confronting the block 26 except at the forward part which is recessed to provide a surface 46 spaced from that of the block 26, the surface 46 being the yarn at said speed, and following such compression intercepting such enlargements as fail to be compressed to said yarn diameter.

12. The method of catching slubs in the winding of yarn of a predetermined diameter comprising moving the yarn linearly at a predetermined speed, subjecting the yarn to progressive compression at a rate less than the inertial resistance of the fibers of which the yarn is comprised to rearward displacement with respect to the direction of movement of the yarn into parallel relation with 1 the axis of the yarn at said speed, and following such compression intercepting such enlargements as fail to be compressed to said yarn diameter.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS US. Cl. X.R. 

